nonpretentious

Music is Electronic

The latest trend in the musical stylings of the world has been decided.

It’s something that we’re all familiar with. We just don’t associate it with bands, groups or even artists.

It’s called synthpop.

Owl City has become an internet sensation overnight after the release of Fireflies on the record label, Universal. Owl City is a musical project by Adam Young, a young American artist who previously published his albums under self-release.

Now, he has a tour of fifty dates and the song ‘Fireflies’ is being remixed, redubbed and replayed across the globe. It is on the playlist of every mainstream listener and every good night out has this played at least once.

Is this new sensation just a man with a beat-board and a talent for discovering beats and rhythms in songs?

Search Owl City on YouTube and one of the top results will be a featured video which was one of his first live tours and he has talents. His voice isn’t the same as the album but he is unique and that’s unusual in the musical world.

Praise where praise is due.

This sensation could mark a new passage in music.

The Internet: Democracy’s Defence?

“In an age where participatory democracy is seen to be in decline, the emergence of the internet as a tool for communication seems variously to be an agency for that breakdown of democracy, yet also a vehicle for mass communication and political participation on a scale exceeding anything our governments have yet been able to achieve. The internet is a medium which requires significant financial and intellectual investment, yet it is also without centralised control.”

The Internet and Democracy by Joanne Jacobs

The world is at a tipping point. Democracies are being challenged. Philosophies are being criticised. Politicians are becoming the scapegoats of societies. In a world that has become a mass of failure and controversy, what role does the Internet have to play in restoring faith in Democracy?

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There is great interest in the potential for the Internet to invest its focus on democratic processes and the continued development of a ’self-regulating structure of information’ (Self-Regulation of the Internet).

Proponents of this view include Howard Rheingold who argues that “virtual communities could help citizens revitalise democracy, or they could be luring us into an attractively packaged substitute for democratic discourse.”

The argument has both positives and negatives. Rheingold suggests that those with access to hardware can, in essence, revitalise democracy. He also suggests that we, as a community, have the potential to create a version of democracy.

Which is better; the revitalisation of democracy or the development of a systematic government based on democratic governance?

Continue reading…

Tuition Fees and Controversy

It would seem that, once again, universities are demanding that the cap upon tuition fees be removed in order to assert their ‘top quality education’. Universities, at the moment, are set to a strict cap upon fees which sits at between £3,000 and £3,225. Reports from the BBC have suggested that universities wish to see fees rise to between £4,000 and £20,000 or have no ‘top limit’ at all.

Most universities suggested that a figure of £4,000 and £5,000 would be an acceptable level.

One such article suggested that universities were no longer being driven through a desire to provide a ‘good education’, but instead we were being driven to act ‘like a business’ and therefore have a business model.

One such university, the University of Swansea, reported that students were no longer academics but consumers. When snow fell and forced the university to cancel lectures, it was reported that students lost ‘£20 per lecture’ and thus were considering the ‘value of their education’.

This ‘campus culture’, as it has been coined, has been seen throughout the educational forum. It was reported that students were contacting lecturers during weekends, ringing them up for information and treating those lecturers as ’service providers’.

Recent reports suggested that a figure of 450,000 students applied for university but two separate reports showed an increase in the level of graduate debt which was being forced upon students.

Barclays reported that, in 2004, the average level of student debt was at around £14,000 whilst Natwest reported in 2007, student debt had fallen from £13,000 to £12,000 from 2006 to 2007.

One of the questions that is sparking the debate is the effect it will have upon those from a ‘poorer’ background, or from those who have unskilled parents. UCAS reported that had increased gradually from 15,000 applicants in 2005 to close to 20,000 in 2007.

This would suggest that students are not as concerned about student debt as is being reported in some newspapers. With support being provided by the government and debt being ’suspended’ until students earn a minimum of £15,000 per annum, it is not as negative as it seems.

What will the increase do to students who are worried? Will it cause a downturn in university applicants and see an increase in unemployment figures?

It would seem that, with the figures, this would not be the case. People would still apply for university and those from ‘poorer’ backgrounds take up only a small percentage of the applicants (15,000 of 450,000 applicants).

If the debate, which is set to begin this year, results in the £3,500 cap being removed, we could see student debt rising to levels around the £32,000 mark and students may begin to question the value of higher education.

It is a known fact that students have already questioned the value of a ‘degree’ which is now common-place. Will the increase in fees produce a new standard of degrees that will help differentiate between the good and the best?

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2009. “Universities push for higher fees.” BBC, March 17 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7946912.stm (Accessed March 17, 2009).

2009. “University and fees in figures.” BBC, March 17 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7948343.stm (Accessed March 17, 2009).

2009. “Fees fuel campus consumer culture.” BBC, March 16 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7938455.stm (Accessed March 17, 2009).

From Labour to Nazism

Gordon Brown first proposed the idea of a National Youth Service to channel teenagers into voluntary work last year.

It is due to be formally launched in September, and would become compulsory if Labour was re-elected.

Having first read this article on BBC News, I was impressed with the suggestion that Gordon Brown was attempting to induce more young people to involve themselves in volunteering but the lines above show a sinister side to the Labour party.

Does it remind anyone of anything?

Try changing ‘National Youth Service’ with the words ‘Hitler Youth’ and change ‘Gordon Brown to ‘Adolf Hitler’. This isn’t what England is about.

Isn’t ‘compulsory volunteering’ an oxymoron?

The Soul: Revealed

There is much to be said for the idea of a soul, a proposition which has often been discussed amongst scholars and philosophers.

Throughout time, there have been numerous references to the soul. Different perspectives have been put forward.

One of the perspectives which I thought was quite interesting was the idea that the soul was an external element of the humankind, that it could survive beyond the body and therefore transcended humanity’s form.

This view was held in numerous different periods of time and, although now seen as a redundant view, it does still have some bearing upon our thinking.

For example, if one examines the Christian definition of a soul, or what is seen as a definition, it presupposes that the soul exists within oneself and that it does indeed ‘transcend’ man itself.

This argument is proposed, however, in relation to life or death. It is supposed that the soul cannot live without the body unless it is in an ethereal world, otherwise known as either Heaven or Hell.

Mahatma Gandhi was quoted as saying this about the soul:

In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth.

He was therefore suggesting that, although our soul is an essential part of our life, it goes beyond the mere figurative and directs us towards a path in life ‘in a clearer light.’

Ecclesiastes was quoted as stating the following:

Give not over thy soul to sorrow; and afflict not thyself in thy own counsel. Gladness of heart is the life of man and the joyfulness of man is length of days.

The main argument with this quotation is that the word ’soul’ could be interchangeable with ‘life’ and the word ‘life’ could be interchanged with the word ’soul’.

It would look something like this:

Give not over thy life to sorrow; and afflict not thyself in thy own counsel. Gladness of heart is the soul of man and the joyfulness of man is length of days.

Although the intented effect is less so through the manipulation of meaning in language, I believe that this best suits the meaning of the soul and its importance in our life.

The soul is that which defines our life. Should be glad, our soul will represent that. People often speak of an ‘aura’ which surrounds us and it seems that this ‘aura’ whether it exists or not is the metaphysical symbol of our soul.

Our life is defined according to the soul; it needs nourishment.

One must indulge in those things which one takes pleasure in. Life is an active word. We must live as active beings.

Only then can our soul be fulfilled and satisfied.

The following quote from Oscar Widle best defines my view of both the soul and life:

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself.

An Introduction to Literary Madness

Today, I was delighted to learn that three new books had arrived in the post from Amazon and I thought that, what better way to introduce myself than to introduce the books I purchased.

Of course, it seemed a slight moment of madness but here I am, writing away.

Before you decide to judge me for the books I purchased and damn me to hell for the blasphemy that it contains, let me introduce myself as a young author who is interested in language, law and philosophy. (If only I had a job that involved all three, I tell myself!)

I’ve often written posts on matters relating to philosophy and recent posts included a transcript on love and another on the emotional continuum, a term created between a friend and I.

Onto the books, I hear you cry! (I know they are more interesting than I am!)

The first book is one I have wanted for quite some time. You may know it. The Trial and Death of Socrates. I bought the Dover Thrift edition which is unabridged and contains the four dialogues.

You may think me a morbid man to read a book that is all about someone’s death but this is much more than just a book on death. It combines two different subjects; morality and existence.

It is written as though it were a script between actors and, to say the least, it is a delight to sift through some of the stylistic features of the book, although it has been modernised.

Second! This was a book that was recommended to me. I thought I’d buy it simply for its value to my extensive collection. Beyond Good and Evil: A Prelude to the Future of Philosophy.

Now there’s a title you won’t forget.

This is a famous book which has become something of a classic amongst literary circles, not only because of its philosophical value but also its linguistic value. It contains within it some of the key features of late nineteenth century writing.

The third book is one that I’m not certain about. In fact, I don’t think I even know what it is about. It’s called the Nicomachean Ethics and it was produced by a successor of Aristole.

According to Wikipedia (the source of all goodly knowledge, I’ll have you know!), this book continues lectures from Aristotle about all sorts of matters and begins with the subject of happiness.

Of course, I’m yet to even touch the books, let alone read them.

I’m afraid someone will see me reading the book and start discussing it with me, only to disappoint them by suggesting that I hadn’t, in fact, a clue what the said person was talking about.

Regardless of all that, it just goes to show what is known as literary madness. In all honesty, I don’t think I’ll ever quite know what these books are about.